By Gloria Ikibah
The National Assembly is taking steps to reinforce the country’s data protection framework in response to evolving cyber threats and rapid technological change.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, Senator Afolabi Salisu, indicated that lawmakers are working towards updating the National Data Protection Act to better address emerging risks linked to digital innovation. 
He spoke in Abuja at the start of a three-day workshop focused on promoting data protection awareness among members of the joint National Assembly committees on ICT. The programme was organised by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission in collaboration with Ampersand Development Partners.
The review effort follows notable developments since the law came into force in 2023, including the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence and new global frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on Cybercrime.
Lawmakers are increasingly linking effective data governance with efforts to combat cybercrime, recognising that gaps in one area can expose vulnerabilities in the other. The ongoing review is therefore expected to tighten regulatory provisions and improve coordination between both areas.
Officials say the broader aim is to strengthen national security in the digital space while ensuring that advances in technology are matched with robust safeguards for data protection and privacy.
“As legislators, we need to have knowledge on data privacy and protection for us to be able to effectively legislate in that area.
“You cannot legislate in an area that you are not sufficiently knowledgeable in; this workshop affords us the opportunity to build our capacity to understand modern principles of data protection and to be in position to review the National Data Protection Act
“It has been three years down the line, how has this law addressed the need of the nation, particularly given the emerging technologies and how it compares with other other countries
“At the end of this exercise, we would be able to come up with a roadmap, a timeline, with a view to review the National Data Protection Act,” he said.
The lawmaker tasked all Nigerians on private data protection saying that it is the duty of all citizens to ensure safety of their data.
He pointed out that many supposedly free public Wi-Fi services and mobile applications often come at a hidden cost, with users effectively exchanging personal data and exposure to advertising without fully realising it.
Also speaking, Chairman of the House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, Stanley Olajide, stressed the growing value of data in the modern economy, suggesting that Nigeria’s future wealth is likely to be driven more by data than by oil.
He added that strong data protection frameworks are increasingly a key consideration for investors, noting that confidence in regulatory safeguards plays a major role in attracting foreign capital into the country.
“Whatever data that we have is our sovereign wealth, is something that belongs to us. How do we protect it? We have to make sure that the right legal frameworks are put in place, so that those data, once bridged, you can actually hold entities, corporation, the countries responsible when they’ breach your data law.
“In the U.S., they have their data law; if you put anything in their cloud, is owned by the United States. So we also have to have something here.
“Anything that resides here in Nigeria and is generated here must be home and protected by our country; so we are put in the right laws and framework in place just to do that,” he said.
